An Inside Look At...IntellectualCapital.com

"Today's Ideas...Tomorrow's Policies": that is the motto of
IntellectualCapital.com, the cutting edge online political magazine that is the brainchild
of former Republican congressman and Delaware governor Pete du Pont.
The concept behind IntellectualCapital.com is novel: use the Internet
to create an ongoing worldwide interactive public policy debate.
Updated every Thursday, IntellectualCapital.com features original
columns from commentators ranging from the staunchly conservative
to the radically liberal.

The columns are written by those in the
know; IntellectualCapital.com's 40 regular contributors include
Washington Post columnist James Glassman, Economic editor
for the BBC and former British Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Jay,
former Illinois senator
Paul Simon, former national security advisor to President Carter
Zbigniew Brezezinski, ACLU President Nadine
Strossen, former Senator and U.S. presidential nominee George
McGovern and White House speechwriter and bestselling author
Peggy Noonan. Each column has a
bulletin board attached at the end for reader responses,
which have proven to be quite popular with a broad spectrum of
readers from all walks of life.
By all accounts, the experiment has been a raging success. Celebrating
its one year anniversary on the Web in June, 1997, this
web magazine has attracted global attention with
an ever-increasing viewership. The free-for-all style of the debates
between the most liberal columnists to the most conservative
mirror the style of du Pont himself, who is known for his candor
and "no holds barred" approach when discussing policy issues.
Pete du Pont spoke with us about his vision for
IntellectualCapital.com, the role of the Internet as a force for
political, economic and social change in today's world as well as
serious issues affecting all Netizens such as encryption and taxation
of the Internet.

What role do you see the Internet playing in the next election?

"The Internet will quickly become a significant campaign resource
for candidates. Whether it will be by the election 2000 is unclear, but
its importance will rapidly accelerate. It can be a tool for raising
small amounts of money from a great many people, a tool for reaching out
to new supporters, and for advertising on Web sites of important
publications in a candidate's district."

"But perhaps its greatest use will be in energizing a candidate's base.
When a newspaper covers a campaign debate it may cover a point or two of
a candidate's comments. And the candidate's supporters may or may not
read the next day's paper. The Internet will allow the candidate to
instantaneously transmit transcripts of the debate, comments on his or
her opponent's positions, and favorable analyses of the outcome."

"For example, in the 1988 presidential campaign, Jack Kemp and I had a
debate on North Carolina public television. It was a lengthy affair -
90 minutes - and I doubt that many people inside North Carolina watched,
let alone anyone around the country. In that debate, Mr. Kemp came out
against school choice, against market accounts to replace Social
Security for retirement savings, and against several other privatization
ideas. That information was reported virtually nowhere. Had I had
available the medium of the Internet, I could have immediately
"broadcast" the difference between my position and Mr. Kemp's to my
supporters across the country. This kind of use of the Internet will be
the most important things candidates can use it for."

On September 3, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled
that the Clinton Administration's new rules banning sales of
encryption technology to foreign countries are unconstitutional.
The government has appealed the decision.
Where do you see this battle ending? What will be the effect on
business and on everyday Netizens if the government is successful
in its attempt to quash and/or control encryption technology?

"The Internet will have an even greater impact on events, making the Red
terror of the Soviet Union or the Holocaust of Nazi Germany much more
difficult to perpetrate upon their citizens. One laptop at Auschwitz
would have indelibly changed the debate."

"The battle to protect the integrity of Internet transmissions is
not ending, it is just beginning. Senator McCain's Senate Bill #909, if
enacted into law, would require government agencies and people
transacting business with government agencies to register their
encryption codes with government data centers where the information
would be available upon subpoena by law enforcement agencies.
Likely
this would soon spread to all individuals and is a dangerous
infringement on both our freedom of speech and our civil rights."

"The problem with the Internet from the government's point of view is
that it is unregulated and not centrally planned. By its very nature,
government always wants to regulate new technologies (and everything
else), so I expect this battle will be ongoing for some time."

Another issue threatening the economic future of the Internet
is the issue of whether individual states may tax Internet sales.
The present administration has made statements that a "hands off
the Internet" policy is needed in the short term, at least, in order
to allow the growth of Web commerce. How much control should the
States have over electronic commerce?

"Virtually every one of the 50 states today taxes radio and
television stations, telephone companies, and businesses operating
within their jurisdictions. An Internet company operating in California
or Texas would be taxed under existing corporate and individual tax
laws, which is fair and expected."

"The difficulty occurs when an effort is made to tax each Internet
transmission moving in commerce. This would be a lucrative tax for state
and local jurisdictions. It would seem very clear that the Internet is by
definition interstate commerce, so that constitutionally the states
would not be permitted to tax it. That does not mean that they will not
try, nor that the Federal government won't try to impose its own taxes
on Internet transmissions. Maintaining a tax-free internet should be one
of our primary goals."

You have stated that American liberty and ideas of freedom will be
the legacy of the Internet. Is this already happening? How so?

"Already the ideas and ideals of the American Revolution of 1776 are
being felt around the world, even in such nations as Russia and China.
Tianenamen Square is an early example of the use of technology to change
political dynamics. The fax machine allowed Chinese citizens to tell
the world what was happening in Beijing.
That brought the television
cameras and we are all familiar with the resulting film footage of the
massacre."

"The Internet will have an even greater impact on events, making the Red
terror of the Soviet Union or the Holocaust of Nazi Germany much more
difficult to perpetrate upon their citizens. One laptop at Auschwitz
would have indelibly changed the debate."

"The point is that once the genie of liberty is out of the bottle, it is
almost impossible to get it back in. The ideas of liberty, of rights
individuals are granted by our Creator, and limited government are very
appealing notions, especially in totalitarian nations around the world.
These ideas will spread rapidly through the use of the Internet and that
will change the way the world works."

In a recent Editorial, you commented upon Wired magazine's cover
story about the "Long Boom": the predicted sweeping global changes
that the world will undergo in the next 25 years because of the
electronic revolution, described by Wired as resulting in a
prosperous, harmonious society. Is big government the "spoiler"
for this utopian vision?

"It certainly could, and undoubtedly governments will try to
control events.

"The problem with the Internet from the government's point of view is
that it is unregulated and not centrally planned. By its very nature,
government always wants to regulate new technologies (and everything
else), so I expect this battle will be ongoing for some time."

It is in the nature of government to attempt to expand its
control over individuals and institutions."

"Economic growth, though, is turning us all into individualists.
As more
and more people have economic power, they will have the ability to make
choices they may not have had before, and so society will become more
individualistic as the economy expands.

The greatest threat to this
kind of growth is regulation - of trade, incomes, social structures, and
individual opportunities. As the world witnessed in the 1930s,
governments have the power through their policies to destroy
opportunities, economies, and societies."

As the Editor in Chief of IntellectualCapital.com, you have conduct
interviews with high-profile personalities ranging from Michael
Kinsley, editor of Slate magazine, to Russian General Aleksander
Labed. As a prominent political figure you have been interviewed
hundreds of times. What is it like to be on the other side of the
interview process?

"Ironically, whether you're the interviewer or the interviewee, the
pressures are very much the same. When one is being interviewed the
goal is to give clear and understandable answers, and to reflect ones
thoughts and opinions on the topic involved. As an interviewer, one
wants to ask the questions that both draw out the person being
interviewed and force him or her to focus on the substance of the
questions involved. Both require preparation, some thought, and clarity
of both vision and language."

Looking back on its first year, what has IntellectualCapital.com
accomplished?

"First, we have successfully published an original opinion public
policy magazine on the Internet. Or growth has been rapid and
substantial. There are not very many such publications in existence, so
I believe we have been one of the most intellectually successful."

"Second, we have increased both the quantity and I hope the quality of
debate on public policy matters. At the end of the week, more than half
the content of IntellectualCapital.com has been written by our readers.
A column requiring two pages of space may have four or six pages of
comment and discussion by our customers. In a sense, IC has become the
medium by which individuals can exchange opinions, debate the issues,
and reach a better understanding of public policy. The quality of the
discourse has been extremely high and we are very happy with both the
progress we have made and the extent to which we have contributed to the
debate."

"Ideas do have consequences. We believe IntellectualCapital.com has
helped thousands of people better understand both the ideas and their
consequences."